Freedom Jerky - Tactical Teriyaki

Freedom Jerky was founded in November 2017 by creative producer Jonathan Chia and television actor Vincent "Rocco" Vargas, both combat veterans. The two were inspired to create a line of jerky whose sales benefited the team at War Horses for Veterans, a charity that helps wounded service men and women through experiences with horses.

"Healing those who have been in combat is not just an intention, it is our mission,” says Vargas. “We’ve created a great product to serve the best people we know. Freedom Jerky supports and hires veteran families with a focus on our community."

This "Tactical Teriyaki" is the company's most popular variety, describing it as both "sweet and savory".


Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, chili sauce, seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil, spices
Review

The first flavor I pick up is a light sweet and light salt, with shades of vinegar in the background. The chewing brings on some soy sauce definition while the salt increases a bit. There's a faint bit of tanginess going on.

For being marketed as a Teriyaki variety, it "kind of" holds up. It's not really the classic Japanese-style teriyaki because I'm not really getting any of the fermented flavor usually brought on by mirin wine or sake, I'm not getting any of the ginger we normally find in teriyaki, and it doesn't have that heavy, sticky sweetness either. This is more of a soy sauce with a lighter level of sweet, and shades of tanginess.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is largely soy sauce, with an even-balanced sweet and salty character, bits of tanginess in the chewing and a very subtle vinegar in the background.

The meat consistency is excellent. It's easy to chew, and feels just like soft pieces of steak once chewed down. I found very little stringiness, ad mostly all meat with just scant pieces of fat.

Verdict

This Tactical Teriyaki variety from Freedom Jerky delivers the "sweet and savory" description the company claims, offering up mostly a soy sauce flavor with a moderate degree of sweet. But other than a light tanginess and a very faint vinegar background, there isn't much else going on these slices of meat. It doesn't have that authentic Japanese-style teriyaki taste, it's more of a sweetened soy sauce. On its own merits however, it offers a great meat consistency and steak-like chewing texture, and is great for folks who love soy sauce-focused jerky without a lot of other stuff competing for attention. For our taste buds however, we were looking for a teriyaki more true to classic standards and something that awakened our senses.

Rating: Average (3/5)